597 Graduates Receive Degrees at HGSE Commencement

Family, friends, and students gathered under the white tent in Radcliffe Yard today to celebrate what for the graduates was undoubtedly a meaningful moment in their lives. After today, the students awarded degrees at HGSE Commencement will go on to even more meaningful work in their education careers.

"Graduates, you are now alumni of the Harvard Graduate School of Education," said Dean Kathleen McCartney. "You are now a member of a community like no other I know — a community of educators who are deeply committed to our mission: improving student opportunity, achievement, and success."

Earlier in the day, HGSE graduates gathered with children's books in tow at the Tercentenary Theater in Harvard Yard for the annual morning Commencement ceremony, where their degrees were officially conferred. Directly following the exercises, the 597 graduating students, 41 earning doctorates, 538 earning master's degrees, and 18 receiving certificates in advanced studies of education, returned to Radcliffe Yard for their diplomas and a final celebration.

"Education shapes the mind and character of learners as we impart knowledge, values, and skills through practice, policy, and research," McCartney said. She went on to share some personal stories of the past year that served to confirm for her the meaningful work of educators.

"As educators, we know about giving our all to a difficult task. And we know that the meaningful moments matter," McCartney said. "A colleague and an alumna of the Harvard Graduate School of Education said to me this semester, 'We are really fortunate to work in a sector that rewards us so richly, because we truly do touch the future.'"

"Members of the Class of 2009, I am here today to make an easy prediction: As educators, you will touch the future, and your future will be filled with many, many meaningful moments. Graduates, are you ready for your first meaningful moment as alumni of the Harvard Graduate School of Education," McCartney asked, as she prepared to hand out diplomas.

Students shuffled across the stage to get their diplomas with children, apples, pins, and even glasses adorned by a sign that read, "Grad."

Directly following commencement, faculty, graduates, and families mingled and took photographs in Radcliffe Yard and around the HGSE campus.

For Mind, Brain, and Education graduates Colleen Colarusso, Ed.M.'09, and Layla Rivera, Ed.M.'09, the reality that graduate school was over hadn't set in. "I feel tired," Rivera quipped. "No, it is a great sense of accomplishment and a lot of work."